Down in the River
by Chasella
Summary: Chihiro goes to Kohaku River to die. Character death, no blood but M for a reason. Oneshot. Relative happy ending. ChihiroxHaku


The wind blew softly through the treetops as she stumbled through the woods. The moon gave her little light to see where she stepped, but she knew her location by heart. When she first found it a year ago she had been ecstatic, but her hopes where soon down again as the only proof that the river existed beneath her was the sound brought up from the dark hole in the rock. She had come back with climbing tools determined to crawl down and touch the water. Her expedition was cut short when she slipped on the slippery rock wall and only the lifeline saved her from falling into the river forever. She was certain that the Kohaku River beneath her did not return to the surface, but continued its underground route until it was no more Kohaku river. She had cried at the edge of the drop, hoping her tears would summon her beloved Haku, but he did not appear no matter her desperate cries for him.

It was first now she decided that this time she would touch the water, be it the last thing she did.

It had become too much to bear in the end. She had not thought it would come to this when she returned with her parents from the Spirit World. The longing for her friends she left behind had been bearable and she had managed to look forward to her new life in her new neighborhood. Her parents had noticed her change to be more independent but thought the change lied with the new house and school. Not having to connect to her normal life in her old town helped believing not every changed back to usual after her short life in the Spirit World.

It had turned so wrong so suddenly. She had lived her life with her parents, quietly and patiently waiting for a time when Haku's promise would be fulfilled. Then she had collapsed on her way home from school. What everybody wrote off as exhaustion from exam period became an illness that would soon drain the life out of her when the test results from the hospital came back. Her parents had cried for days and a steady stream of classmates and family came by to see her. While she looked calm on the outside, she was burning on the inside. They were saying their goodbyes as she stood infront of them still breathing! Her mother's job became taking take of her dying daughter. Every day had been her fussing over her, trying to fulfill her every wish before she was gone forever. And she hated it. There was no denying she weakened, but the way she was treated was as if today was the last day. It had become too much when a new visitor came by. He was from the Wish Fond, devoted to fulfill the last dying wish of children before they left this world. She had kindly declined his offer, saying she only wished to spend the rest of her time in peace. Secretly her mind was screaming just one name. Her patient waiting for Haku had disappeared when she knew how many days were left.

She could hear the river faintly now. She had managed to escape to fulfill her wish herself. She would spend her last moments at peace in the Kohaku River.

He felt it the moment she hit the water. His eyes shot open, completely awaken from his shallow sleep that had been filled with her voice calling his name. The first he felt was how the rivers water surrounded her body and he marveled how she had grown in those 7 years, her silhouette formed in the regained connection with his river. It was not a child's body in river but that of a young woman. His surprise and happiness was cut short as he felt her body being pulled along the river deeper underground. Icy dread filled him as he realized she would not survive long if he did not immediately help her. His corporeal body disappeared from his room in the bathhouse and he swam in his river the next. As he became one with his river, he felt her presence clearly and travelled quickly down the river to catch her. He willed the river to quiet down around her, making sure the water did not slam her against the rock walls in their turbulent ways. He finally saw her limp body ahead of her and caught her tightly against him, as he made ready to turn quickly back. There was no air to be found underground than where she had fallen into the river. He looked down at her face as the water rushed past them and was captured by her staring back at him. Oh, it was certainly his Chihiro looking at him with her big brown eyes, but what utter peacefulness she looked at him. He captured her lips and pushed what small air he had himself into her. "Hold on, Chihiro, I got you" he whispered in her mind. He pulled away to watch her expression, praying the air was enough until he got her out of there. She smiled softly to him, and to his horror she opened her mouth. No sound came out of her mouth a human would understand, but Haku heard it from the river as the precious air left her.

"I love you."

He could see his own reflection in her glassy eyes, his face twisted in terror as she began to convulse in his arms as the water filled her lungs. He cried out her name as they broke out of the river by the cave she had jumped in from. He desperately tried to leave the river to bring her up completely on ground but his foot refused to leave the water, forcing him to hover in the water with his middle just over water. Chihiro was laying against his chest with him holding an arm around her to make her still as he commanded the water out of her. The water had not made his hair or clothes wet, but he felt the tears streaming down his cheeks as he kissed her to force air into her. "Chihiro" he sobbed as he felt there was no warmth left in her body. This was not how he wanted to keep his promise to her.

He clung to her, kissed her cold cheeks and stroked her wet hair, never wanting to let go of her. He rocked her body softly but as he looked up on the full moon, he stopped. He bit his lip as he looked down on her still form in his arms.

´It would be possible´ a dark whisper sounded from the depths of his mind.

´I can't force it on her, it would be monstrous!´ he felt sick of the thought, yet the thought of not seeing her smile again made him want to die as well. A growing sensation of unfairness and anger filled his mind as he thought of years of long nights dreaming of a day were he would see her again, and then finally seeing her again. Drowned in his own river. He cried out in anger and pain and gave up.

He touched her chest as he captured her cold lips, gliding down in the river again. ´Please forgive my selfness´

The water surrounding them began to glow as he pulled magic from the river and himself and let it flow into her body. He opened his eyes to see her skin glow softly as the water turned dark again, and suddenly her eyes opened up to lock with his for a moment before darting around her. Her eyes filled with panic as she noticed they were in the water and she jerked around as to find the surface. Haku took her head in his hands, making him face him as he said: "Just breath, Chihiro." She looked bewildered as she heard him his voice underwater, but seeing his soft expression she gasp after air, but did not suffocate as water filled her lungs instead. He tried to smile gently at her and whispered: "I am so sorry for having done this to you. I made you a spirit, but at the cost of never dying or seeing the humans world outside of this river. You are no longer human."

"Can you feel it now? The river." He whispered softly to her and saw her eyes go distant as she felt the magic connecting her to the river; every drop of water, the rough sides of the rock the water rushed by, from start to end she now knew every corner of it, as if she was a part of it… And Haku.

"Our river."


End file.
